What is the best Exploration era Naval Battle simulator?

I would like suggestions as to which games are the best in this genre. Currently I've been playing Empire: Total War which has, seemingly, a great naval battle simulator. However, this is the only game of its sort which I have played. At my local Half Price I found a copy of East India Company, of which I'm not sure what to think about it after watching what I could find of it on YouTube. Does anyone know of any sea battle (or Age of Exploration era (1400's through 1800's, prior to steel battleships that is)) simulators which you think are good either by experience of playing or by the reading of positive reviews?

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louist

Join Date 09/2005

+15

It's very niche market. I seem to recall Shrapnel Games having a library of naval titles, but when I checked all I saw was Salvo!. I've never played it, though. There's a series, though I can't recall what it was called. Something like Cutlass and Cannons, or Men and Iron or... something. I couldn't find it via Google, but the title was something like those...

Oh, also, Pirates Gold (Sega Genesis) has aged fairly well, and the remake Pirates! is a solid game. They might not be quite what you are looking for, but the production value on either is better than the genre's average.

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Actually I found East India Company (fully patched of course) to have very long and engagaing battles. Well, as long as there aren't islands involved, AI ships tend to run into them and sink. I have Privateer also, you can have more sea battles in this version as you play as a pirate. Another one, but might be hard to find is Pirates of the Caribbean (2002 I believe, it was released along with the first movie) patched with the "Build 14" or maybe higher now. DL it for free and piratesahoy.net. Modders have added a ton of things and changed it completely over the years. Last time I played it there were 7 or eight character to play as and a sandbox kinda play or quest driven. Sea battles had you ducking cannon balls and were tactical more than arcade type. That website covers everything pirate. Hope that helps..........

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